Award-winning director to show documentary in Brockton

Rudy Hypolite, the director of Push: Madison vs. Madison, a documentary chronicling the 2006-2007 Madison Park basketball season, will show the movie on Friday at Massasoit Community College.

Staff Reporter

BROCKTON – Award-winning director Rudy Hypolite is coming to the City of Champions this week to show his documentary Push: Madison vs. Madison.

The free viewing will be held at Massasoit Community College on Friday. Doors open at 6 p.m., followed by a 6:30 p.m. introduction. The documentary will begin at 7 p.m. and a 30-minute question-and-answer session will be held with Hypolite after the conclusion of the documentary.

The documentary chronicles Madison Park Vocational High School’s undefeated 2006-2007 basketball season and the challenges the team faces on the court and their struggles with life in the inner city off the court.

In 2011, Push: Madison vs. Madison won the Henry Hampton Award for Documentary Filmmaking at the Roxbury International Film Festival.

This year that honor went to Noube Rateau, director of communications for Mayor Bill Carpenter, for his documentary, The Culture, which focuses on gun violence.

“It’s the first documentary I’ve seen that is filmed like a movie,” said Rateau on Push: Madison vs. Madison.

The documentary, which was produced by KreateABuzz Documentary Films LLC., was picked up by ESPN Classic and has aired on national television.

Rateau added that he has been trying to bring the film to Brockton for years, noting that he thinks there are similarities between Madison Park and Brockton High School, particularly in regard to their diverse student populations.

At the center of the documentary is Dennis Wilson, the charismatic coach of the Cardinals who is tasked with bringing together a group of talented players into a championship-caliber team.

Among the players under Wilson’s tutelage that year were two future Division 1 college basketball players, Raheem Singleton and Malik Smith.

Singleton would go on to play at the University of Maine while Smith would play at Florida International University before transferring to the University of Minnesota, where he would finish his collegiate career.

Coach Wilson is expected to attend the viewing, which will mark the first time the documentary has been shown in the city.

Residents who attend the invite will even catch a glimpse of a familiar place on the big screen as the last scene of the documentary was shot in Brockton.